Monday, July 12, 2010

By request – my thoughts on the latest “she/he is successful because she/he is black” charge…

A bitch was traveling last week and kind of missed Rush Limbaugh’s latest public display of rancidity…but a certain Tabitha from Madison, Wisconsin (birthplace of my remarkable sister, C-Money, btw!) sent an email about the shit and asked for my thoughts.

Lawd.

You asked, sister!

My first response was to ignore Rush’s comments about certain people only being successful because they are black.

I’ve been black since birth and have heard that shit almost as long…in school and in my professional careers, people have enjoyed dropping that diss on a pretty regular basis. In many ways, I owe them for it – a bitch has worked hard to counter the “she’s just here because she’s black claim.” But the sad reality is that lots of folks could give a shit about a body's actual accomplishments…they need to believe that some other person is successful simply because they are black because it helps them ignore their own inadequacies and lack of achievement.

‘Tis tempting to list out the many ways a person is challenged by bigotry because they are black…I’ll confess that I wrote out a long list and then deleted it.

What?

A bitch is easily tempted (wink).

But you know and I know this isn’t a debate over the real…and Limbaugh wants folks to dive for this shit because that would validate the premise of his argument.

He ain’t slick and this bitch isn't in the mood.

Limbaugh is an ass and, since he makes a pile of money being an ass, he’ll probably be an ass for life.

I suspect that Limbaugh likes to claim that folks are successful because they are black because he feels that he’s successful simply because he’s white.

Truth is I’m not all that concerned about Limbaugh or Beck or Bennett or Buchanan or any of the other intellectually challenged fools of conservative media…

…’tis their audience that worries me.

Odds are the pundits are indulging in lucrative hustles. Oh they believe what they say, but they only say it because it resonates with their audience. If their audience wanted them to praise certain black people they’d belly up to a pulpit, light some candles and start chanting that black is beautiful.

But the undeniable fact is that these fools have found and built an audience through hate dressed up as analysis…and that audience is not offended by the shit they say – they eat that racist shit up and then call in and beg for more.

And while Limbaugh and his kind travel in wealthy circles and rarely mix with the masses…

9 comments:

Anonymous
said...

What I love is that they conveniently forget all the things that are denied blacks because they are black. All the injustice, all the hatred and resentment, stereotyping et all. I can't believe this was actually a topic of his show. It should be illegal to make money because your shallow.

Their audiences worry me too. Of course, most people who believe without thinking worry me. Because it means that they will turn out to protest, vote, flyer, and holler without any real understanding of why they're doing it.

I've always maintained that I don't care if someone hates me...as long as they can articulate WHY they do. Beyond "my pastor says", or "the bible told me", or "cause you're wrong".

Their listeners aren't just our neighbors, but also people we may hold near and dear, which always makes for an explosive family display during the holidays! (Or maybe that's because I drink too much wine at family gatherings and, inevitably, let my "liberal" mouth fly.)

Rush Limbaugh is OBSESSED OBSESSED OBSESSED with black people. He wants to be black soooo bad it hurts. Gosh, that man's envy tickles me to no end. It really is typical ---its like this guy who cursed me out on Steven Barnes Facebook because he stated Kobe Bryant was a confessed rapist and I asked "Oh, were you there." He stated: "Kobe admitted it." I said, "Really? A black man confesses to raping a white woman --in Colorado--and he wasn't prosecuted and is still alive? Wow-that is a first in American history."

The reality of people like Rush and other *teehee* angry white men is rather--sad. It's just sad. They really believe their own ridiculously stupid thoughts and ideas.

I'm afraid Wanda Sykes summed up my feelings about Rush at that dinner she performed at last year. It's hard for me not to feel boxed in by the right wing media and their audience: I mean Rush's fans call themselves "dittoheads" (or they used to) and I find it hard to catch that knee sometimes, even though I know full well that an outdated label is not enough information to scorn someone I don't know over. Especially while I'm accusing them of doing roughly the same thing, am I not? But what then to do about the harm being done to political discourse by these tactics? No one this audience will listen to will dare to go on record saying that this is absurd, even when they know it is. Mostly I try to ignore things that elevate my blood pressure, but sometimes I just can't.

When Russ connects his two neurons with his spirochete*, and talks sense, I will notice him.

Obviously, discrimination is evil and limits people's lives. There is something in the "dammit, I'll work THREE TIMES AS HARD and be TEN TIMES BETTER than you, asshole" theory. Some people wilt under discrimination and hardship, and some other people in similar circumstances actively cultivate their FUgene (see above). Some people who have life handed to them on a golden platter just don't have the will to make something of themselves.

* as in, Treponema pallidum, the syphilus bacterium - the above being an insult used by biomedical folk.